Almost 40 years ago a group of German businessmen sat together in a Jakarta hotel and brought a German soccer club to life. That was at a time when Germany had only won the Worldcup once (today they are 3 times champions) and Jakarta was still far away from skyscrapers, huge billboards with bright neon lights and endless traffic jams.

Many things have changed since then, but German Plus has remained a lively platform for soccer enthusiasts, from Germany and - as the Plus in the club name indicates - also from Indonesia as well as from other nations. The club has become a kind of ambassador of German soccer in Indonesia playing most of its games against Indonesian teams. While touring the island of Flores in the early 80ies and traditionally competing in the official national dress, German Plus was once mistaken for the German national team. 15.000 people had turned up in the stadium of Maumere and cheered their team to a 5 - 2 win over the mighty Germans. For the love of the game and of the diversity of the Indonesian archipelago and its people German Plus regularly travels to different parts of Indonesia.

When German Plus plays against Indonesian clubs one can always see a display of the different playing styles dominating soccer in Germany and Indonesia. Tactical discipline, physical strength and compact play is matched against quickness, agility and fine ball handling abilities. One aspect Indonesian players often have difficulties to match is the size of their German opponents. Usually being a head taller they have an advantage when the game draws nearer to the goal. However, as the average age of the German team is usually well over 30, the oldest player having reached the grandfatherly age of 56, this advantage is easily compensated by other skills on the Indonesian side.

For German Plus the matches against Indonesian teams are an excellent preparation for the Jakarta International Football League (JIFL) with 11 clubs. In the 2001/2002 season German Plus won the vice-championship after a competitive season in a heart-beat final.